(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman football team takes on Afghanistan in its final warm-up match on Wednesday ahead of its Group D match against the visiting Maldives in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Qualifiers 2019 on September 5.
Both the matches will be played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (SQSC) and will kick-off at 7.15pm.
Pim Verbeek's Red Warriors had recently returned from Austria where it had a successful two-week training camp.
Oman is currently second in the group with three points after a 1-2 loss to hosts Palestine in June. Verbeek's men are considered to be the favourites to top the group and will look to keep their strong unbeaten record at home intact when they take on Maldives, which also has three points. Palestine tops the group with six points while Bhutan is yet to open its account.
Oman had begun its campaign with a record 14-0 win over Bhutan at the SQSC on March 28. And Verbeek will be looking for another win in front of the team's fans against Maldives.
During the camp in Austria, Oman had played four friendlies and lost three of those games.
Wednesday's match will also be a tuneup for Afghanistan, which is ranked 156, ahead of its Asian Cup qualifying match against Jordan next week.
Afghanistan had been camping in Oman for past three days. The team is languishing at bottom of Group C. Jordan is top with Cambodia at second spot and Vietnam is third.
A win for 120th-ranked Oman against the Afghans will put the hosts in a positive frame of mind ahead of their crucual game against Maldives, where the Dutch coach Verbeek would be looking for nothing less than three points.
In another group match, Bhutan hosts Palestine on September 5 as the race for the final 12 spots heats up with the Asian Cup qualifiers final round reaching its midway mark. A total of 24 teams will be in action on September 5.
The top 12 will be joined by the already-qualified 12 teams - Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and UAE. The qualified teams advanced through the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 preliminary joint qualification round two.
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